


I will rise, after a thousand years

by EffervescentYellow



Series: across the rolling dales of heather [4]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Anal Fingering, M/M, Moving In Together, Oral Sex, Romance, Smut, Tender Sex, There is basically no plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:00:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29855004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EffervescentYellow/pseuds/EffervescentYellow
Summary: When Richard met him at the door with a smile so electric it could power the whole city and said “Welcome home,” and pressed him up against the inside of their front door and kissed him so hard he felt it in the arches of his feet, all he could say was, “Take me to bed.”
Relationships: Thomas Barrow/Richard Ellis
Series: across the rolling dales of heather [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2154012
Comments: 11
Kudos: 28





	I will rise, after a thousand years

**Author's Note:**

> i will wade out  
> till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers  
> I will take the sun in my mouth  
> and leap into the ripe air  
> Alive  
> with closed eyes  
> to dash against darkness  
> in the sleeping curves of my body  
> Shall enter fingers of smooth mastery  
> with chasteness of sea-girls  
> Will i complete the mystery  
> of my flesh  
> I will rise  
> After a thousand years  
> lipping  
> flowers  
> And set my teeth in the silver of the moon
> 
> E.E. Cummings
> 
> Anyhow, this is 95% porn

There were a thousand things they could talk about (and would _need_ to talk about at some point) but Thomas couldn’t give a single damn, because he’d meant to have arrived hours ago and now it was dark, and his limbs were aching and his head tired from trying to figure out what emotions he ought to be feeling and _for God’s sake_ even the _dog_ was asleep already in the corner of the room. So when Richard met him at the door with a smile so electric it could power the whole city and said “Welcome home,” and pressed him up against the inside of their front door and kissed him so hard he felt it in the arches of his feet, all he could say was, “Take me to bed.”

And Richard did.

It took significantly longer than it ever should have for them to even make it up the stairs, but they couldn’t seem to stop grabbing for each other after every move.

Remove hat. _Kiss._ Off with the coat. _Kiss._ Smile like fools. _Kiss._

When they finally made it to the bedroom, they didn’t bother wasting more time. Richard had him unbuttoned and into his separates within what felt like seconds, and by the time Thomas managed to pull off those and set them aside in a way Richard wouldn’t frown at, Richard himself was already naked.

Richard always looked enchanting this way – glowing in the warm lamplight, eyes sparkling, but there was something different about it tonight.

It didn’t seem as much of a mirage as it had in the past.

Richard moved towards him, wrapping his arms around Thomas’ waist and already pressing a thigh between Thomas’ legs. Thomas let himself be pushed backwards onto the mattress, Richard’s hand firm against his chest as he sat beside him, looking down at him and giving him that precious, soft smile that made his heart flutter wildly.

“What do you want?”

“Your hand.” Thomas had been thinking about it the whole way over – no use now in pretending as though he hadn’t been.

Richard chuckled lovingly, “My hand _where_?”

“Anywhere you’re willing to put it.”

“Right,” Richard laughed, bright and carefree, and Thomas couldn’t help but grin back, “So everywhere then.”

He loved this – loved that sometimes this act was reverent and sometimes it made him feel lighter than air, but neither meant any less than the other.

“Vaseline’s in the nightstand just there,” Richard said, motioning towards the one on the side of the bed closer to Thomas, as though it hadn’t been there every time before, but it seemed as though Richard felt the newness of the moment just as well. The stand was still on the wrong side of the bed from both of them, however, and even with his arm stretched all the way out, he couldn’t reach the drawer.

He could have easily rolled over and managed, but he didn’t feel like moving now that he was sunken down into the covers. Sighing, he turned his head back to Richard, who himself was still perched on the edge of the bed.

Thomas made his face look as angelic as possible and tried to do an impression of the first aristocrat he could think of, which came out as a terrible impersonation of Lady Rosamund Painswick, “Richard, darling,” he drawled, and from the first word Richard’s shoulders were shaking with laughter because, unlike him, Thomas was bloody awful at impressions, “won’t you be a dear and get it for me?”

It took Richard a few moments, just sitting there biting his thumb from laughing, before shaking his head and pushing himself off the bed to walk around the other side and fish the tin out from the nightstand. He then crawled back onto the bed and knelt by Thomas’ hip, “It’s a good thing I like hearing your _own_ voice in my bed,” he joked.

“Oh?” Thomas raised his eyebrows innocently – coy, “do you, Mr. Ellis?”

Richard reached up and began to trace the back of his fingernail down the tendon of his throat, tracing a circle around his Adam’s apple, making him swallow thickly, breath leaving him suddenly. “Think about it often, whenever you’re not around…” Richard murmured softly, his eyes wandering off slightly, almost trancelike.

Thomas placed a hand on his knee, bringing him back, “You’ve got me in your bed now, haven’t you?” _You’ll have me here forever if possible._

“Yeah,” he said, breathless, looking back up and meeting his eyes, “yeah.”

“Well then,” he says, voice sounding lighter than he really feels, “that’s part of the point of having a house to ourselves isn’t it?”

Richard nods, that tender smile playing at his lips again, and opens the tin, warming a generous amount between his fingers, “I’m glad you’re here,” he says ardently, just as he wrapped his palm around Thomas, and _Christ_.

Richard never takes him in hand as Thomas does when he was on his own. Thomas always twists his wrist differently, uses more pressure on himself than he would have liked anyone else to, and he was always grateful that Richard did things his own way. He didn’t want to be reminded of being on his own when they were together.

And besides, Richard was better at it anyhow – he did things with his hands Thomas could never figure out.

Richard kept his eyes on him – kept his smile on him – and Thomas parted his legs a little further to give Richard more room, to which Richard bent down and kissed the inside of his knee.

“How do you do it to yourself?” Thomas breathed out, and they both knew it was a request and not a question. Thomas knew exactly how Richard pleasured himself because he’d let him watch before.

Richard loosened his grip slightly and moved slower, swiping his thumb over the tip at each stroke. It was almost too much in the sense that it was almost too little, but Thomas wanted to drag it out as much as he could.

With his free hand, Richard took to holding Thomas’ ankle, thumb circling the bone lightly. It was strange, yet something about it tugged in his gut – made him open his knees further and pull his ankles closer to Richard.

“Glad you made the leap,” Richard murmured, continuing his earlier thoughts, and Thomas hummed in agreement, “Glad you trust me.”

Thomas reached down at that, smoothed his hand up and down Richard’s forearm as he moved around Thomas. “I’ve never trusted anyone more,” he said, and it didn’t feel nearly as hard to say as it once might have, “not in my whole life.”

Richard leaned down to kiss him, and in that moment, it finally seemed to click that they were really here doing this in their own home. _Their_ home. All the anxieties and knots that had tangled up in his chest over the past few days seemed to loosen – they could be picked up later if need be. Thomas sighed and let himself relax – let Richard take the open space in his chest and make it blossom into something full.

After a while he couldn’t help himself, however, and mumbled against Richard’s lips, “Thought you said you’d use your hands _everywhere_.”

Richard snorted and pulled back laughing breathlessly, “I did, didn’t I.”

“I don’t forget those sorts of things.”

“And as well you shouldn’t,” Richard grinned at him playfully before sitting back up and reaching for the tin of Vaseline once more.

He switched hands, pressing with the tip of his index finger against his hole while pushing his legs up and back.

Thomas always loved that – feeling the sudden stretch in his thighs and space between his legs and knowing that he was giving himself over. He breathed out as Richard pressed in, and when he finally placed his left hand back around his prick, he found himself choking down a string of soft sounds and pressing back hard into the pillow.

“No need to stay quiet,” Richard hummed, reminding him just as he pulled his finger out and pressed it back in. When he twisted his finger around and swiped his other thumb over the slit at his prick all at once, Thomas gasped loudly – openly – and Richard smiled and kissed his chest, “There you are.”

“I’m here. I’m _here_ ,” he moaned in answer without thinking, and then blushed, feeling silly, but Richard had a golden, wonderstruck look on his face.

Richard bent down again to press a kiss to his chest, just below his heart, but this time he lingered, licking and sucking hotly against his skin until Thomas knew for sure there would be a mark there, all the while working his hands around him and _in_ him like it was the most important job in the world. When he pulled up for air, his lips were swollen bright red and glistening with his own saliva and Thomas arched against the mattress, letting his moans fall freely from within him.

“Richard,” he moaned, wanting more, _needing_ more, “I -“

“What is it, darling?”

“Dick, _please_.”

Richard crooked his finger inside of him and Thomas had only meant to say that he could have added a second but this was better, _much_ better, and Richard rubbed against him until he had twisted his hands into the bedsheets and felt like all of the air had been rung out of him.

“Yes, I - yes, yes, more…” he found himself babbling, but this time Richard did take the other route, pulling out to slick up two fingers before pressing slowly back in.

He wasted almost no time before pressing within Thomas again. As all of his limbs jerked at the touch, he realized that three fingers were likely not in the night’s plan. He was losing himself quickly and couldn’t find it in him at all to care.

Richard kept twisting and pressing and kissing his chest and he could hear the sounds he was making, and it was overwhelming to the point that for a second he thought he might pass out. It felt sublime.

“I love you. _I love you_ , with my whole heart… I -“ and then it was though he completely lost the ability to form words because Richard’s fingers were pressing against him so insistently and he felt like his limbs were numb and on fire all at once, and all he could seem to manage were strange, desperate utterances, and at some point he’d closed his eyes and not even noticed, and then he was coming, jerking against the sheets, crying out, and spilling himself across Richard’s hand with a wail.

He couldn’t think straight after they were done. His whole body was warm and tingling, like he’d lain too long out in the sun and let himself be burnt all over.

Richard was still knelt by his hips, hand smoothing across his thigh as he waited for Thomas to catch his breath. He leaned down to kiss at the slight indent at Thomas’ waist, and when he sat back, he caught Thomas’ eye. His eyes were wide, yearning, sparkling with warmth, and Thomas could feel his desire – could see it too. Richard hadn’t even been touched and even so, his chest was flushed across his collarbones, bronze curls stuck to his forehead, prick hard between his legs, all from giving to Thomas, from watching and feeling him squirm beneath him, from listening to him.

Thomas wanted to give back to him in the same way, to pleasure him and watch him fall apart, but when he tried to sit up, his limbs felt heavy

He’d been tired before they started, and now he thought he could just float away if he closed his eyes for a second too long.

But he wasn’t going to do that to Richard. He wouldn’t have anyway, but especially not now – not with way he was looking at him.

He pushed back against the pillows until he was propped, half-seated, against the headboard. “C’mere,” he said, but when Richard only moved higher up on the bed, Thomas reached out to slip a hand around the back of Richard’s leg and pulled. “Straddle my chest, love,” he murmured.

A clipped whine escaped Richard’s throat.

He complied without hesitation, but he was still bracing himself with both arms against the mattress, trying not to put all his weight against Thomas. Thomas shook his head and sat up a bit further to press his lips against his, forcing Richard to sit back. Richard moaned into the kiss as Thomas licked into his mouth, nipped at his bottom lip; he could already feel Richard beginning to give in, melting into him, limbs becoming pliant in his hands.

He took Richards’ arms in his hands as he kissed him and slowly lifted them above his head, hands tracing down from just above his elbows to curl around his fingers, molding his hands to grip around the top of the bedframe. Richard followed the movement with his body, lifting up until he was no longer seated on Thomas’ chest at all, body hovering in the air as he knelt with his knees on either side of him.

Thomas then slipped his hands slowly back down from Richard’s wrists, fingernails grazing along the underside of his arms, Richard’s shoulders jumping as he curled a finger into the hair under his armpit, and he let out a heady moan. Thomas smirked as he continued to tease lower, tracing down the ridges of his ribs before slipping around his back and pressing him forward just slightly. As he did so, the tip of Richard’s prick bumped against his lips, and Thomas could see the muscles in his abdomen twitch.

Richard gasped loudly before pulling his hips back suddenly, looking down at Thomas with his eyes blow open as if he had just woken up from a dream and realized where he was. “Thomas,” he gasped, his voice already sounding spent and wild, “Thomas, darling – “

Thomas looked up at him and raised his eyebrows. Richard’s lips were parted but he couldn’t seem to form words; his eyes were glued to Thomas’ lips, where they were inches away from his prick. Waiting for him to continue, Thomas smoothed his hands up from Richard’s knees. When he reached the top of his thighs, he reached to press his thumbs against the skin just behind his balls and then slowly guided his fingers outward, tracing along the crease of his thighs until the tips of his thumbs reached his hipbones.

Richard’s hips stuttered and he whined again.

“I – _Christ_ , Thomas…” he bent his head down and sucked in a deep breath, “Are you sure, love?”

And it was a reasonable question. Thomas was blocked on three sides by Richard and the back of his head was flush against the dark wood of the headboard – nowhere to pull back if he wanted to. But Richard was always an attentive lover, always considerate.

“Just be gentle, darling,” he said, thumbing against his hipbones, “I trust you.”

Richard lolled his head back towards the ceiling and nodded, and Thomas took that as permission to continue.

He reached back to place both hands on Richard’s backside, guiding him forward until his prick was once again at Thomas’ lips. Richard looked back down, lips parted in wonder and anticipation as Thomas slowly licked against the tip. Richard keened, desperate, but didn’t look away. Thomas tried to keep his eyes on him as much as possible as he began to take him further into his mouth, tonguing against the underside, but Richard’s gaze was intense – like no one he had ever been with – and try as he might, he couldn’t always match him, but he knew plenty of other things Richard liked as well.

As he hollowed his cheeks and sucked, he let his eyelids flutter down, demure, and he could feel Richard’s muscles tense.

“Thomas, my God -” he panted, and when Thomas skated a hand up his back, he could feel the hum of his moans through his skin, “my God…”

There was no need to tell Richard he could be as loud as he wanted – he’d always been more vocal. It was a wonder now each time to hear him without fear.

He kept alternating between sucking and licking, squeezing his buttocks and thumbing over his hipbones. Richard kept watching him and making increasingly desperate noises and seeming to throw caution to the wind in that regard, but his hips were stiff in Thomas’ hands, and while Thomas appreciated his care, for a man who was always so full of life and movement, it was strange.

He pressed the flats of his palms against his thighs to get him to pull off, and Richard pulled back immediately.

“Are you - ?” he started to ask, a look of concern passing over his face, but Thomas cut him off.

“Was going to say you could move – just a little – but… if you wanted.”

“Oh,” Richard breathed out, relieved, “You’re sure?”

Thomas nodded, and this time when he put his hands back where they had been, Richard moved towards him on his own.

They worked into a new rhythm then. Whenever Thomas would stop to take a breath, Richard would give him a moment before canting his hips forward, pressing the tip of his prick through Thomas’ parted lips, and then Thomas would take control again. With each turn, Richard seemed to whimper and moan with greater abandon, and Thomas began to feel the muscles in his thighs start to shake as he tried to stay calm and hold himself up.

After a while, Thomas moved his right hand to slowly trail a finger down between his buttocks, lightly pressing over his hole. He wasn’t really going to go there now (though it was an interesting thought for another time) but Richard responded as Thomas hoped he would – leaning forward to press his forehead against where his arm was braced on the headboard and letting out a high-pitched, desperate moan.

If he was younger, just hearing the desperate, wanton sounds Richard was making might have been enough to get him going again, but instead he just felt content, sated. The inside of his chest was warm all over, and all he wanted was for Richard to feel good – to feel cared for.

He slipped his hand further down between his legs to cradle his balls while simultaneously sucking in a breath through his nose and hollowing out his throat to take Richard as far down as he could.

Richard cried out loudly and Thomas nosed against the hair at the base of his prick, breathing him in and closing his eyes, before pulling back, only to do it again after taking a second to catch his breath.

Richard leaned his head back and finally closed his eyes, chanting Thomas’ name like it was sacred – like it was the answer to everything, “Thomas, Thomas, _oh_ , _Thomas_ …”

Thomas hummed around him in reply and pressed his thumb against his taint, and that was finally what did it.

Richard began to stutter out, “Thomas, _please_ … love, I - I - “

And so Thomas just held him tighter, letting him know that it was alright to let go, and so he did.

There were a few seconds of breathless silence after Thomas finally pulled off where Richard’s head was still thrown back, his neck taut and glowing golden in the lamplight, hips stuttering against Thomas’ hands with the aftershocks, and then Richard was falling into him.

His knees were braced tight around Thomas’ hips, his soft prick against Thomas’ belly, and he had his elbows resting on top of Thomas’ shoulders, hands tangled in his hair, as he pressed their foreheads together, gasping for air.

They didn’t say a word for a long time as Richard calmed down; they didn’t need to. Everything that needed to be said already hung clear in the air between them.

Because they were together.

In _their_ house. In _their_ bed.

And this was only to be the first night of a lifetime’s more.

After a few moments, Richard sunk into him further, tucking his head into the crook of his shoulder so that they were pressed together fully, chest to chest, and snaked his arms around the back of Thomas’ neck. Thomas mirrored him, wrapping his arms as tight as he could across his back and dipping his head to press soft, soothing kisses down the side of his neck, starting from the spot just behind his ear and trailing all the way down to the edge of his shoulder.

Richard was so warm against him; Thomas sighed and tilted his head to rest his cheek against the ridge of his collarbone, utterly at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://effervescentyellow.tumblr.com/).


End file.
